Chadderton Hall Park is a park in

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. ...

, in the

Metropolitan Borough of Oldham The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Oldham, The borough had a population of 237,628 making it the seventh-largest district by population ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Its roots stretch back to the 13th century being the land on which Chadderton Hall once stood. It contains a large field area with a small football pitch, a playground area, several

flower garden A flower garden or floral garden is any garden or part of a garden where plants that flower are grown and displayed. This normally refers mostly to herbaceous plants, rather than flowering woody plants, which dominate in the shrubbery and ...

s and a small café situated next to the Park's bowling green. The

River Irk The River Irk is a river in the historic county of Lancashire in the North West England that flows through the northern most Lancastrian towns of the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester. It rises to the east of Royton and runs west past ...

runs through the centre of the park.

Geography

Chadderton Hall Park is located on Chadderton Hall Road (B6195) towards the north of

. It lies at the bottom of Chadderton Heights. The geography of the park itself is like a bowl, the grass fields lie in the centre of the park at the lowest point and the land to either side of the fields is higher. This is because of the River Irk's natural valley but also because the central area of the park was once used as a lake.

History

Chadderton Hall Park was originally the grounds of Chadderton Hall. Chadderton Hall was first built in the 13th century by Geoffrey de Chadderton, this first hall was in Chadderton Fold slightly to the east of the current park. In 1629 a new hall was built at the site of the current park and was present there until the 20th century when it was demolished in 1939. It was at the end of the 19th Century that the area surrounding Chadderton Hall began to be used for public recreation. A boating lake and a menagerie, including a kangaroo and a lion, were established as part of a "Pleasure Garden". These features have long since been demolished but evidence of the boating lake can be seen by the hollowed out area where the playing fields now stand.

Notable people

Joseph Aston (1762–1844), the journalist and dramatist, died at Chadderton Hall, 19 Oct. 1844.

External links

Chadderton Historical Society on Chadderton Hall
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